Daryl: We need a winning finale

PEARS skipper Daryl Mitchell is expecting a ‘few more spicy pitches’ in the finale to the season as the Specsavers County Championship promotion battle hots up.

Teams have had to work harder for wickets with the flatter pitches evident in the aftermath of the new toss rule which gives away sides the choice of bowling first if they desire.

Only leaders Essex have recorded more than three victories so far in Division Two – four – with Worcestershire having three wins with home and away successes over Leicestershire and Northamptonshire.

Mitchell said: “Wins have been slightly more difficult to come by with the new toss rule and slightly better wickets.

“It’s made for some interesting cricket and been hard work at times, particularly for the bowlers. But there are four games to go and I’m sure there will be a few more spicy wickets at the end of the season when teams are chasing wins.

“Hopefully we can perform well and get on the right side of results.”

Mitchell, whose Pears welcome Northants to New Road in the County Championship tomorrow (Tuesday) is looking for a big finale to the campaign from Worcestershire.

“It is a tight division. Everyone is beating everyone. It was a disappointing performance at Canterbury last week to lose to Kent,” he said.

“We’ve got four more games and it’s all about putting in big performances.

“We’ve got all to play for and promotion is still well within our grasp.

“It’s all about performing well in the two games at New Road [against Northamptonshire and Derbyshire] and also big games at Chelmsford and Hove,” he added.

His thoughts were echoed by director of cricket Steve Rhodes who believes three wins in the promotion run in will put Worcestershire in a really good position.

“If we get three wins out of the next five games, that is going to put us in a really good position. We’d take more. To me, it’s all about the next game and performing well.

“I don’t think generally we were quite switched on at Canterbury. We didn’t play our best cricket.

“We’ve got a young, promising side and they are going to have hiccups along the way and that was one of them.”

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